Skyrim: The life of the Dovahkiin
by Brammer
Summary: I am here to tell you that story; the story of my Dovahkiin. It contains severe spoilers, so if you haven't played the game and you do intent to, don't read this. If you have played the game through, or not going to play it at all and don't care about spoilers, do enjoy my story. This story is also on Movellas by me; Brammer. Rated M for safety.
1. Chapter 1 A ride as a prisoner

The first thing she noticed was the strong sensation of pain in her head, and her eyes flew open. Her vision was blurry at first, and it took a while before all of her senses woke up. She noticed that her hands were bound, and suddenly remembered being ambushed. Quickly, she looked up and the first thing she saw was a blonde Nord, sitting in front of her, behind him a frozen forest went by. She could hear the sounds of hooves hitting the cold, hard ground and saw that she was sitting in a cart, all of her items were gone, her horse too. She wore the clothes of a prisoner.

"Hey, you. You're awake." The Nord spoke and she looked at him, nodding to show that she understood him.

"You were trying to cross the border, right? Walked into that Imperial ambush, same as us, and that thief over there." He looked at the man sitting next to him, another Nord but seemingly weaker and brown haired.

Now she remembered how she had ended up here, as she crossed the border into Skyrim from Cyrodiil, she got ambushed by a bunch of soldiers, and now everything she owned, along with her horse, was gone. Did he say Imperial ambush? She knew about them, and had just right left the Imperial City a few days before, and last she knew of, everything were going okay between both lands, why the hostility now?

"Damn you Stormcloaks. Skyrim was fine until you came along. Empire was nice and lazy." The thief said. "If they hadn't been looking for you, I could've stolen that horse and be halfway to Hammerfell."

He then looked at Cordelia. "You there. You and me – we shouldn't be here. It's these Stormcloaks the Empire wants."

"We are all brothers and sister in binds now, thief." The blonde spoke again, and what a funny phrase to use in such a situation, 'in binds'.

The man steering the cart then yelled at them: "Shut up back there!"

The thief looked at a fourth person, whom Cordelia hadn't noticed before now, but he were gagged, so he couldn't really speak.

"And what's wrong with him, huh?" The dirty thief asked, and the blonde Nord almost yelled at him: "Watch your tongue. You're speaking to Ulfric Stormcloak, the true High King."

The 'true High King'? What had Cordelia now gotten herself into.

"Ulfric? The Jarl of Windhelm?" The thief asked surprised and glared with big eyes. "You're the leader of the rebellion. But if they've capture you..." Now he looked more in fear than surprise. "Oh gods, where are they taking us?"

"I don't know where we're going, but Sovngarde awaits." The one Nord said and looked ahead and Cordelia followed his gaze.

"No, this can't be happening. This isn't happening." The thief rambled.

A village was nearing and it wore the flag of the Imperial, she then noticed that another cart that were driving in front of them, filled with people wearing the same armor as the blonde.

"Hey, what village are you from horse thief?" He asked, and the thief answered with a sharp tone. "Why do you care?"

"A Nord's last thoughts should be of home." The Stormcloak said and the thief sighed.

"Rorikstead. I'm... I'm from Rorikstead."

Another voice interrupted their pleasant conversation with terrible news. "General Tullius, sir! The headsman is waiting!"

"Good. Let's get this over with." Another man said, the voices came from behind the nearing walls.

"Shor, Mara, Dibella, Kynareth, Akatosh. Divines, please help me." The thief cried out and prayed to their gods.

"Look at him, General Tullius the Military Governor." The blonde prisoner said with anger in his voice.

A man in golden armor were sitting on a horse and speaking to an Elf.

"And it looks like the Thalmor are with him. Damn elves. I bet they had something to do with this." He kept talking as he looked around.

"This is Helgen. I used to be sweet on a girl from here. Wonder if Vilod is still making that mead with juniper berries mixed in." He sighed and gave a weak and worried smile. "Funny, when I was a boy, Imperial walls and towers used to make me feel so safe."

Then a boy sitting on the stairs to a house that they passed by spoke, and they all looked at him. "Who are they, daddy? Where are they going?"

But his dad ordered him to go inside, and sounded to be in a hurry. "You need to go inside, little cub."

"Why? I want to watch the soldiers." The kid protested.

"Inside the house. Now."

"Yes papa." He said with a sad voice and they heard the door close.

"Get these prisoners out of the carts. Move it!" A woman demanded and the carts stopped.

"Why are we stopping?" The thief began to freak out now, and the blonde soldier asked him as if he was stupid; "Why do you think? End of the line."

It ran cold down Cordelia's back as she knew what were coming now. They all did.


	2. Chapter 2 A beheading

Cordelia and the still unnamed blonde Nord looked at each other, and their eyes met.

"Let's go. Shouldn't keep the gods waiting for us." He said without breaking contact, before standing up.

Cordelia was a bit scared, now that she were standing up in the cart and could see the headsman himself, before stepping off of the cart.

"No! Wait! We're not rebels!" The thief cried out in fear.

"Face your death with some courage, thief." The Stormcloak soldier said with a calm voice, but the thief weren't able to bear the same calmness.

"You've got to tell them! We weren't with you! This is a mistake!" He kept yelling, and in the end, Cordelia got enough of it.

"Shut up thief, or I will kill you myself!" Was the first words she spoke.

They lined up, and Cordelia could see the thief literally shaking from fear, where others stood proud in their armors that seemed only to aggrivate the audience.

"Step towards the block when we call your name. One at a time." The woman commanded with a hard voice.

"Empire loves their damn lists." The blonde whispered and Cordelia couldn't help but to snort.

"Ulfric Stormcloak. Jarl of Windhelm." Were the first name to be announced between the four.

"It has been an honour, Jarl Ulfric!" The blonde Nord said.

In the group next to them stood three men and a woman, all of the race of Nords. They all seemed just as proud as the blonde next to her.

"Ralof of Riverwood." Ralof. So that's what the proud Stormcloak Soldier were named, and she looked at him as he walked away, almost in pride.

"Lokir of Rorikstead."

"No, I'm not a rebel. You can't do this!" He yelled and began to run in an embarrasing way as his hands were bound.

The Imperial Captain shouted back at him. "Halt!" But he just kept running and yelling. "You're not going to kill me!"

"Archers!" The Captain said and two soldiers send arrows after him, and they both hit him at their first tries, sending him gliding along the ground and leaving blood marks.

"Anyone else feel like running?" She asked and Cordelia sank hard. At least now she didn't have to listen to the thief, but it didn't help much.

"Wait. You there. Step forward." And now it was her own time. Last one in the line. But they did not know who she was, nor what she had done.

"Who are you?" A man with a quill and list asked her.

"I'm Cordelia from the Imperial City... no one special..." If she could hide her reasons for ever, she would die a happy woman.

"You're a long way from the Imperial City. What're you doing in Skyrim?" He asked and checked the list for her name.

She didn't give him an answer and just mumbled: "None of your business."

He looked at the woman next to him wearing a pridefull heavy armor. "Captain. What should we do? She's not on the list."

Hope shone in Cordelia's eyes, but the Captain did not hesitate to find a solution. "Forget the list. She goes to the block."

And the man accepted it. "By your orders, Captain."

He looked Cordelia straight in the eyes, and maybe felt a bit of sorrow as this Imperialist were going to be executed for no seeming reason. "I'm sorry. We'll make sure your remains are returned to Cyrodiil. Follow the Captain, prisoner."

It didn't really sadden her, that this was how she'd end. Fitting actually. She held her head high in false pride, as she followed the Captain to the others that suffered the same fate.

A man named Tullius were talking to the Jarl. "Ulfric Stormcloak. Some here in Helgen call you a hero. But a hero doesn't use a power like the Voice to murder his King and usurp his throne."

That might be the biggest crime Cordelia had ever heard anyone do, but one thing confused her; The Voice? Ulfric could now only give some muffled grunts and looked with sharp eyes at Tullius, if looks could kill. You could just feel the anger between them.

"You started this war, plunged Skyrim into chaos, and now the Empire is going to put you down, and restore the peace." Tullius talked about him as if he was a dog.

As he had just finished his sentence, a big and distant roar echoed from the sky, and everyone looked up, including Cordelia.

"What was that?" A man asked but Tullius ignored the alarming sound. "It's nothing. Carry on."

"Yes General Tullius." The Captain said and saluted him along with the others as he walked away.

The Captain then turned to the priestess. "Give them their last rites."

The priestess nodded and lifted her hands in the ceremonial speech. "As we commend your souls to Aetherius, blessings of the Eight Divines upon you-"

A Stormcloak soldier standing next to Cordelia rudely interrupted the priestsess: "For the love of Talos, shut up and let's get this over with." He walked with haste towards the block.

"As you wish." The priestess said, sounding offended and quickly walked away with surprisingly graceful steps.

"Come one, I haven't got all morning." The Stormcloak said impatiently.

The Captain pushed him down to his knees and rested her foot against his back as he laid his head on the block.

"My ancestors are smiling at me, Imperials. Can you say the same?" And with one single swing, his head rolled into a basket and the blood painted the stone.

The headsman had swung the axe so easily, with no hesitation. That was his job after all, but Cordelia still found herself interested in the way he had swung the blade, with little to none care for taking another mans life. She knew the feeling.

A female Stormcloak insulted them: "You Imperial bastards!"

But the audience seemed to disagree; "Justice!" "Death to the Stormcloaks!" They yelled, where after Ralof spoke: "As fearless in death as he was in life."

"Or just impatient for his end." Cordelia said and looked at Ralof, who didn't exactly seem to agree.

The Captain pushed his corpse aside as it was still bleeding, and then pointed at Cordelia. "Next, the renegade from Cyrodiil!"

Cordelia knew that it was her the Captain meant, and even though she did her best to come to peace with her fate, it still tugged a bit in her heart and her stomach began tying knots on itself. Before she walked forward, everyone looked at the sky as a roar was heard again, echoing from the mountains.

"There it is again. Did you hear that?" The soldier with the list asked, but the Captain wanted nothing but to continue.

"I said, next prisoner!" Her voice was hard and merciless.

"To the block, prisoner. Nice and easy." The soldier then said.

Cordelia gave Ralof a last look and nodded before walking towards the block with her head held high, ready to meet her end.

She could have thrown up from nervousness.

As she took place by the block, she looked the soldier with the list deeply in the eyes, clearly blaming him for this. Him and the rest of these Imperials, forcing their own kind to become beheaded. The soldier then looked away.

First she felt a hand on her back and short after she head knelt, a foot pressed her hard down against the stone.

She shed no tears nor last words, as she awaited her end.


	3. Chapter 3 A dragon

Then another roar came from the sky as the headsman lifted his axe, and from behind the mountain that Cordelia looked at, a dragon flew out with black wings and headed towards them.

oked at, a dragon, the same dragon from her home, flew out and came towards them. "What in Oblivion is that?" Tullius yelled, and the headsman didn't seem to have noticed the dragon yet as he kept raising his blade higher and higher.

"Sentries! What do you see?" The Captain yelled and quickly got an answer: "It's in the clouds!"

IT then landed on a tower in front of Cordelia so that she could still see it. The earth shook as the heavy creature landed and the headsman fell.

One of the Stormcloak soldiers yelled in fear: "Dragon!"

It gave a fearfull roar that send shivers down Cordelia's back. The sky grew dark as a storm began brewing, making it rain fire. Cordelia had frozen from fear for a moment and didn't know what to do, as she watched the dragon, and it felt like it watched her too, with it's red eyes.

"Don't just stand there! Kill that thing!" Tullius commanded, and from where Cordelia laid, she saw arrows fly at it, but it just shouted again.

A fireball landed behind Cordelia, pushing her a bit so that she'd fall off of the block and land face first on the ground.

"Guards, get the townspeople to safety!" Tullius yelled.

Her vision was blurry and she had a hard time getting up from the thrashing before, when she heard the known voice of Ralof, when he yelled at her and pulled her up: "Hey, you. Get up! Come on, the Gods won't give us another chance!"

She were surprised that he even cared for her, being an Imperialist and all. But he had seemed like a friendly and good guy from the beginning in the cart.

"This way!" He grabbed her still tied hands, and ran towards a tower, where Ulfric was standing inside and waving them to him.

The door got slammed in after them, and Cordelia tripped over her own feet in the hurry. It was painful as she landed on the ground, with her heavy body crushing her arms underneath her, even though she had felt worse pain. She then felt someone pulling her up again, and cursed a bit, praying that this wouldn't become a habit. Her vision had slowly begun to come back again, and as she looked around in the tower, she could see wounded Stormcloak soldiers bleeding on the ground. She then turned towards Ralof and Ulfric.

"Jarl Ulfric! What is that thing? Can the legends be true?" Ralof sounded very shocked.

"Legends don't burn down villages." Ulfric answered and sounded like a wise man.

Another roar made everyone dodge as if it would protect them from danger.

"We need to move. Now!" The Jarl shouted.

"That's the smartest thing anyone have told me today!" Cordelia said and turned to Ralof in hope that he knew where to go.

And he did. "Up through the tower, let's go!" He quickly turned around and ran up the stairs with Cordelia right behind him without any hesitation to follow.

A part of the tower had collapsed, and a soldier were trying to clear the way. "We just need to move some of these rocks to clear the way!"

Suddenly the wall broke, and the dragon stuck in its head, where after Cordelia got pulled away by Ralof. "Get back!"

She had begun to feel offended by his way of always trying to save her, she could handle herself!

The entire tower shook, and she looked away in the embrace of Ralof, as the dragon spoke it's language and blasted fire through the hole, scorching the entire second floor as Ralof and Cordelia hid on the stairs.

Just as quickly as it had appeared, it dissappeared again, moving on to attack the other poor souls in the smaller town of Helgen.

"See the inn on the other side? Jump through the roof and keep going!" Ralof said, pointing at a hole in the roof of a bruning inn.

She looked down at it and then up at Ralof again, checking if he was serious, and it looked that way. "Are you insane, Nord?! I can't jump that far! Since when can Imperials fly?!" She shook her head in denial.

"Just go! We'll follow when we can!" He demanded of her with a rock hard tone.

Stepping up on the edge of the hole in the wall that the dragon made, she cursed herself for her stupidity, knowing that she couldn't possibly make the jump; not with tied hands at least! She sank hard before taking the jump. She landed just exactly next to the burning part of the roof, and she quickly felt it's heat, and just as quickly stepped away from it. She was rather impressed with herself not falling when she landed. As she tried to walk, she could feel that her legs were hurting a bit; the landing had apparently not been as perfect as she herself thought. As she made her way the upper floor of the very small inn, she looked back and saw that no one was following her. She thought she was on her own now. Again.

Jumping downstairs through a hole in the floor, she noticed the dragons shadow flying over the inn, and hesitated a bit to walk outside.

"Haming, you need to get over here. Now!" The soldier from earlier yelled at a little kid. "That a boy. You're doing great." He said to reasure the child, as he was crying and shaking like a leaf.

And just as he managed to get away, the dragon lands on the ground not too far away from them, and the soldier pulls them all aside.

"Gods... Everyone get back!" He yelled, as the dragon opened it's mouth and beflamed a man luying on the ground.

He then noticed Cordelia hiding behind cover with them. "Still alive, prisoner? Keep close to me if you want to stay that way."

She didn't really have a say in this, as she did want to survive.

"Gunnar, take care of the boy. I have to find General Tullius and join the defence!" The soldier said to an older man, whose name apparently was Gunnar.

"Gods guide you Hadvar." Gunnar said, also telling Cordelia the name of the soldier.

Hadvar then pushed Cordelia at her back to get her moving, and she didn't really protest. Her eyes lingered a bit on the dead Nord that had been scorched by the dragon, before getting pulled by the arm again. They jumped down a pair of burning stairs, that did leave a few marks on Cordelia's bare feet.

"Stay close to the wall!" Hadvar yelled.

A huge, black wing somehow managed to get down between a burning house and the wall that they stood up against. Hadvar extended an arm to hold Cordelia against the wall, as they both stared at the huge wing with open mouths. The dragon breathed fire into an already burnt down house, not noticing the two of them before setting off again.

"Quickly, follow me!" He pulled at her hands and ran up through some stairs, and through a crushed, burning house.

People all around was screaming and crying in panic, as they tried to flee the dragons merciless attack, but the raining fire got them.

"Tell my family I fought bravely!" Soldiers and Mages would yell. "Use everything we have!"

In the midst of chaos and panic, some people seemed to have a bit of compassion in them, as she saw two soldiers helping one another. "Come on. Give me your hand, I'm getting you out of here."

"Hadvar! Into the keep, soldier, we're leaving!" Tullius commanded as they approached him.

And Hadvar weren't one to hesitate to follow orders, as he ran towards the keep, leaving behind his comrades in arms. Though it had been an order. Cordelia though stood for a moment and looked at the mages throw fire at the dragon, but she had a feeling it wasn't working. At all. She then noticed Hadvar were waiting for her. Why was beyond her.

"It's you and me, prisoner. Stay close!" Hadvar yelled, and she was still confused as to why he even bothered with her. She was seen as a criminal apparently.

"How in Oblivion do we kill this thing?" The soldiers yelled, and Cordelia got more and more insecure, doubting it was ever a good idea to come to Skyrim.

"Die, for the love of the Gods, die!" They shouted, and as Cordelia ran underneath a bridge, an archer fell down in front of her, making her gasp.

He reached out for her; "H...elp..." He almost whispered before collapsing entirely.

Cordelia looked back for a second, but turned around as soon as she heard a familiar name.

"Ralof! You damned traitor. Out of my way!" Hadvar yelled at the Stormcloak soldier.

"We're escaping, Hadvar. You're not stopping us this time." Ralof said and they both shared an equal hateful look.

"Fine. I hope that dragon takes you all to Sovngarde." Hadvar snapped at Ralof.

"You! Come on, into the keep!" Ralof pointed at Cordelia and ran past her, towards a door.

"With me, prisoner. Let's go!" Hadvar said and ran, but she didn't follow him, and as he turned around to look at her, she gave him the finger and followed Ralof through the door.


	4. Chapter 4 A key

They stumbled through the wooden door into a rather empty room. They took a short moment to catch their breaths as they now were safe. By a table and a chair was a dead Stormcloak laying on the ground, and they both walked over to him. Ralof knelt down and looked at him, to see if it was a familiar face; Cordelia remembered him from when he stood next to her earlier.

"We'll meet again in Sovngarde, brother." Ralof said and closed his eyes.

Cordelia walked over next to Ralof and searched for eye contact. "You were close?" She asked.

"Not very, but we were often stationed together. Anyway, looks like we're the only ones who made it. That thing was a dragon. No doubt. Just like the children's stories and the legends. The harbingers of the End Times." He said as he stood up.

"Well this is not a story, this is real Ralof." She shook her head.

"I know, but still... it's amazing, isn't it? Just a bit." He said and she turned her head away.

"More like horrifying." She mumbled.

"We better get moving. Come here. Let me see if I can get those bindings off." He turned the axe in his hand as she lifted her bound hands up to him, with a bit of hesitation.

It tugged hard in her wrists, but she tried to pull the opposite way of what Ralof was. Cordelia stumbled a bit backwards as it finally cut through the rope around her wrists.

"Thanks..." She said as she looked up at him, and then down again.

The rope had left red marks and she felt sore as her fingers investigated the marks digging into her skin and flesh.

"Yeah, there you go. You may as well take Gunjar's gear. He won't be needing it any more." They both looked down at the corpse.

Cordelia bend down to strip the man of his armor, that hopefully would serve her better than him. "Would you kindly...?" She asked and signalled him to turn around.

With a sudden realization to what she meant, he turned around and cleared his throat. "All right, get that armor on and give that axe a few swings." He walked across the room, over to an iron door.

As Cordelia began to undress from the slaves clothes, she held up the cuirass. "If I can fit it, that is..." She mumbled, as it seemed a bit larger than what she usually used.

Ralof tried to open the iron gate, but it appeared locked.

"This one's locked. Let's see about that gate." He turned to a wooden gate in the other end of the room. "Damn. No way to open this from our side."

They looked for a handle when footsteps and voices rang from the other side of the wooden gate, and their eyes met, making a quick decision to get into cover, and they both hid behind the wall, peeking at what was happening on the other side of the gate.

They saw two Imperials walking up to the gate. "Get this gate open!" A woman commanded.

It was the Captain that had decided to send Cordelia to the headsman earlier, and she felt her grip on the axe tighten in anger. As the gate lowered and they walked into the room, and the smaller ambush, both of the rebels attacked as quickly as possible.

"For the sons of Skyrim!" Ralof yelled and Cordelia just let out a smaller roar as she grabbed the Captain and pushed her up against the wall.

"Oh! The Imperial traitor" the Captain said and grinned, but Cordelia just tightened her hold, before tossing her into the table that were standing next to the dead Stormcloak.

"I'm going to kill you!" Cordelia growled witch clenched teeth, as she suddenly grew blind with rage, and began attacking the Captain that was still trying to get to her weapon, but seemed too slow.

The next thing she remembered was Ralof trying to pull her away. "Woah now, I think she's dead!"

Cordelia stopped hitting her.

"Yeah, you're right..." She said, exhausted and covered in blood as she tried to catch her breath.

"Maybe one of these Imperials have the key" he said, and looked a bit at Cordelia, appearing rather speechless otherwise.

Cordelia didn't say anything and knelt down to the corpse of the former Captain that laid across the dead Stormcloak. She had to roll the corpse over to get to the keys, and at the same time she decided to pick up her weapon so she could dual-wield them, a smaller sword in each hand.

"See if one of the keys can open the gate." Ralof said and stood by the gate that he were talking about.

Without saying anything herself, Cordelia rushed to open up the gate, but it wasn't until her third try that the gate would open up. It would have been quicker if she had any lockpicks.

"That's it! Come on, let's get out of here before the dragon brings down the whole tower on our heads." Ralof said and they both ran down the stairs that were placed on the other side of the iron gate.


	5. Chapter 5 A couple of Stormcloaks

Through another door were a long corridor, and further ahead of them came two Stormcloaks running. The dragon flying around outside let out an earthshaking roar, that made some of the corridor collapse, and just moments before the chunks would have hit her, Ralof pulled her back.

"Watch out!" He shouted, trying to overcome the loud sounds of stone falling on each other.

Standing up again, she gave him a quick thanks, and he smiled at it.

Two voices were heard from behind a door to their left, and slowly and silently Ralof pulled out his sword.

As soon as Ralof saw they were Imperials he yelled at them: "Death to the Empire!" And charged at them.

"You wont leave Helgen alive!" The soldier in the heavy armor shouted back and charged at Ralof.

The other soldier, wearing a lighter armor, swung his sword at Cordelia, but she quickly blocked him. As they both tried to press their weapon upon the other, Cordelia fastened her left foot on the ground and made a dangerous move, by raising her right foot to kick the Imperialist away.

He let out a loud "oof" when she kicked him away. Not giving him a chance to regain his breath, she jumped on top of him and with an easy and practiced move, she slit his throat.

As she stood over the inanimate Imperialist and waited to catch her breath, she heard a sound of a heavy armor fall to the floor. When she turned around, the other Imperialist was dead too.

"Nicely done." Ralof said.

Cordelia nodded with a smile. "You too."

She put away her two swords and they both looked around.

"Looks like a storeroom" Ralof said. " See if you can find any potions. We'll need them."

He picked up a pair himself and she found some in the barrel that the soldier had been searching through. On their way through the storeroom, she grabbed an apple and took a few, quick bites off of it, before tossing it away again.

"Done? Let's get moving." He opened another door and they walked down a few steps of a staircase, when they could hear fighting.

"Trolls blood! It's a torture room." Ralof said in shock.

The two Stormcloaks from before were fighting the torturers.

One of them was using magic on the female Stormcloak, and in her pain she fell to her knees. Quickly, by reflex, Cordelia threw her one sword at the mage. It hit perfectly in his shoulder and he almost fell from the force and sudden assault. As he was about to focus his attack towards Cordelia, she quickly made a high kick, and his jaw made cracking sounds has her foot hit it and send him unconscious to the floor.

When she turned around, she saw Ralof pulling his sword out of the chest of the other torturer.

"Was Jarl Ulfric with you?" He asked the two Stormcloaks when they had caught their breaths.

"No, I haven't seen him since the dragon showed up." The woman puffed, and the other Stormcloak shook his head.

"Come on, we have to keep moving." Ralof then said and waved them all along.


	6. Chapter 6 A cave

"Let's see where this goes." Ralof said and pulled the lever and the bridge quickly lowered.

As they both had passed over the bridge, the dragon up above roared and the entire cave shook, which caused it to cave down onto the bridge and closing the entrance.

"No going back that way now." Ralof said and Cordelia rolled her eyes at his remark. "We'd better push on. The rest of them will have to find another way out."

They had to follow where the water came from as far as they could. The water was ice-cold to walk in and Cordelia did her best not to let her steps linger. By the end of the stream, a rock wall stood tall, and there was no way they could crawl underneath it.

"Hmm... that doesn't go anywhere. I guess we'd better try this way." He pointed at an opening next to them, which they then followed.

It led them to a room filled with cobweb and large spider eggs.

"Ugh spiders. We don't see much of them in Cyrodiil, but we do have them." Cordelia said and tried to avoid the webs, but they had caught the spiders attention.

They were quickly killed, although still rather disgusting to kill, the sound of their bodies crunching and the slimy feeling of the blood.

"I hate those damn things. Too many eyes, you know?" Ralof said and tried to smear off the blood.

After walking further into the cave, Ralof reached out to stop Cordelia.

"What-"

"Ssh... There's a bear just ahead. See her?" He pointed forward and Cordelia noticed the sleeping beauty.

"I'd rather not tangle with her right now. Let's try to sneak by. Just take it nice and slow, and watch where you step."

They managed to sneak easily past her. When they then came to a bunch of chewed bones scattered across the floor and one of Cordelia's steps landed on one and crushed a bone and the bear reacted right away.

"Run!" Ralof shouted and pulled her with him, even though they both knew they could easily kill the bear, they didn't have the stamina to do it.

A faint shimmer of daylight came across further ahead of the tunnel they ran through.

"That looks like the way out! I knew we'd make it!" Ralof burst out with an exhausted breath.

"Take it easy now. We're not there just yet." Cordelia said and looked back at the bear, that were nearing them dangerously quickly and at last she couldn't take it anymore.

"Wait Cordelia, what are you doing?!" Ralof yelled at her to come back, but she didn't obey.

Her courage didn't leave her as she charged against the bear with such a tiny weapon compared to its claws. She could feel the claws trying to dig through the armor she wore, but it didn't get far before her blade cut its way through the monsters skin.

With a painful roar, it stood on two legs and hit her forcefully, which send her flying into a wall of the cave.

"Ufh!"

She felt the rock of the cave cut holes in her skin through the leather and chainmail of the armor she wore. She reached out for a healing potion, when the bear then stood and brawled above her.

Quickly two arrows got impaled into its thick skull and its attention was then on Ralof.

Slowly, Cordelia got back on her legs and everything swayed for her eyes and her balance weren't the best after the toss, but she couldn't just let Ralof get torn apart by the bear.

With unsure legs, she jumped and landed on the back of the bear, where she grabbed hard around a big tuft of hair and tried to put her sword against its throat. As it tried to shake her off, an unfamiliar pain shot through her sides and she had difficulty moving the arm to the throat of the bear.

Ralof weren't slow to see that she needed help and with two quick moves, a couple of arrows killed the bear and as it fell hard to the ground, Cordelia rolled off and gave smaller grunts in pain.

"Take it easy. You were greatly injured when the bear tossed you away, you have to take more care!" He helped her up, but she didn't appear grateful for his help.

"I can take care of myself!" She shouted and as her echo died out, they stood in silence.

"I-I'm sorry. I just have a very bad day." She put quite the emphasis on "very".

"I understand... You'll have to find a healer, but we have to move on." Ralof said and let her support herself against him, as they walked out from the cave and out to the snowy area.


	7. Chapter 7 A town

The light was blinding for her eyes. When she could see clearly again, it revealed the most wonderful sight of tall mountains and pines trees, all covered in snow. She could see her own breath in the coolness of the air, yet it was poisoned from the smoke coming from Helgen.

They heard the bashing of giant wings, and Ralof hurried to pull them aside and into cover behind a rock. The sudden movement pained Cordelia's sides and she grunted as she kept leaning closely against Ralof. When she looked up, the dragon flew past them with black wings and loud roars.

"There he goes. Looks like he's gone for good this time." Ralof spoke and helped Cordelia back up on her legs. "No way to know if anyone else made it out alive. But this place is going to swarm with Imperials soon enough. We'd better clear out of here."

They began walking down the hill through the landscape filled with bird chatter.

"My sister Gerdur runs the mill in Riverwood, just up the road. I'm sure she'd help you out." He said and smiled at her.

Cordelia was wondered by how quickly the colours and weather changed; not far down the road they walked by trees that became green and flowers bloomed as the snow was gone.

After a while in silence, Ralof spoke: "You know, you should go to Windhelm and join the fight to free Skyrim. You've seen the true face of the Empire today."

"You really think I should join up with Ulfric Stormcloak?" She asked, and weren't entirely sure if she should; these people here, the Nords, clearly were fighting for the right thing in this war: freedom and to own their own land.

"Damn right. You don't have to be a Nord to fight for Skyrim's freedom. You should come to Windhelm with me and join the fight to free Skyrim." It sounded very important to him.

"You make a good case. Maybe I will go to Windhelm." It was a big maybe, for she had her own problem to fight.

"I hope so." He replied with a hint of a smile. "Skyrim need people like you to fight for her freedom."

He suddenly stopped and glanced up at the mountains before them.

"See that ruin up there?" He pointed and Cordelia followed. "Bleak Falls Barrow. I never understood how my sister could stand living in the shadow of that place."

She noticed that he shivered just by thinking of the place.

"I guess you get used to it." He sighed and they then began to walk again, yet Cordelia's eyes lingered on the ruin.

They walked past three gigantic stones, each with a birthmark on them.

"The Guardian Stones..." Cordelia said and limped up to them.

"You know of them?" Ralof asked.

"I've read about them, although I've never seen one." She looked a bit at them and then stepped up before the Warrior stone and touched it.

A bright light shot from its top and into the sky, and the markings in the stone lit up.

"Warrior, good! Those stars will guide you to honor and glory." He said and she smiled at the thought of that, although she let out a light scoff at the disbelief of her ever receiving honor and glory.

"Come now, let's move on. Riverwood is close." He said and they continued their walk, yet this time she walked on her own.

"Remember, this isn't Stormcloak territory." He warned her. "If we're ahead of the news from Helgen we should be fine as long as we don't do anything stupid."

"Wait." Cordelia stopped up and tried to listen. "Can you hear that?"

"What?" Ralof couldn't.

"The sound... I think someone is following us..." Cordelia slowly reached for her swords.

"No need for that, it's probably just an animal. Remember, don't do anything stupid." He grabbed her shoulder and she let out a sigh before putting her weapons back.

"Just jumpy, I guess..."

"If we run into any Imperials, just let me do the talking, all right?" She snorted at his remark and shook her head in disbelief of it would end well then.

Further down the road that followed the river, Ralof got a smile on his lips and pointed ahead. "If you look up ahead you can see the mill."

Cordelia looked up and found it right away, Riverwood was only seconds away.

As they passed the entrance to Riverwood, all seemed peaceful and friendly.

"Looks like nobody here knows what's happened yet." Ralof said low in case someone would hear him. "Come one, Gerdur's probably working at her lumber mill."

She followed him over a bridge crossing the water, when she could hear an older lady shout from behind her: "A dragon! I saw a dragon!"

Cordelia turned around to see what was going on.

"What? What is it now, mother?" A younger man asked and approached her.

"It was as big as a mountain, and black as the night. It flew right over the barrow." The woman claimed, and the description matched the dragon Cordelia had survived earlier.

But her son didn't show her any support and nor did he believe her. "Dragons, now, is it? Please, mother. If you keep on like this everyone in town will think you're crazy. And I've got better things to do than listen to more of your fantasies." He said in a cold tone and walked away from her, it broke Cordelia's heart to see a son treat his mother like that.

"You'll see! It was a dragon! It'll kill us all and then you'll believe me!" The mother yelled at him as he walked away. She reminded Cordelia of her mother.

"Gerdur!" Ralof then said and smiled at his sister as they shared a hug.

"Brother! Mara's mercy, it's good to see you!" Both of them seemed happy in this moment.

She then got a worried look on her face. "But is it safe for you to be here? We heard that Ulfric had been captured..." She asked in a deadly worried tone.

"Gerdur..." Ralof said and shook his head. "I'm fine. At least now I am."

"Are you hurt? What's happened?" She asked, even though he said he was fine.

"And who is this? One of your comrades?" She looked at Cordelia and seemed shocked, as she first now noticed she was an Imperialist.

"Not a comrade yet, but a friend. I owe her my life, in fact." Ralof spoke of her as if she was holy, and she didn't know what to respond with.

"Is there somewhere we can talk? There's no telling when the news from Helgen will reach the Imperials..." Ralof spoke with hesitation, and his sister reacted in even bigger surprise than expected and spoke a bit too loud maybe.

But she was just a worried sister.

"Helgen? Has something happened...? You're right. Follow me." She walked past them as they followed and yelled for someone named Hod. "Hod! Come here a minute. I need your help with something."

A man standing on the lumber mill turned around and spoke to them. "What is it woman? Stand drunk on the job again?"

He sounded to joke, but she were much more serious. "Hod. Just come here."

And that's when the man noticed Ralof. "Ralof, what are you doing here? Hah... I'll be right down."

They stopped by a tree stump and waited for this Hod, when a little kid and his dog came running towards them, and he seemed overjoyed to see Ralof.

"Uncle Ralof! Can I see your axe? How many Imperials have you killed? Do you really know Ulfric Stormcloak?" It was clear whose side this kid was on.

But his mother didn't think that Ralof had time for this. "Hush, Frodnar. This is no time for your games. Go and watch the south road. Come find us if you see any Imperials Soldiers coming."

But the kid protested. "Aw, mama, I want to stay and talk with Uncle Ralof!"

"Look at you, almost a grown man!" Ralof said cheerfully. "Won't be long before you'll be joining the fight yourself."

It made it shine in the kids eyes and he smiled big. "That's right! Don't worry, Uncle Ralof, I won't let those soldiers sneak up on you." He said and ran the same way he came from with his dog.

Meantime the man, Hod, had approached them and Ralof sat down to rest whereto Cordelia did the same, and she sighed hard from the pain in her sides.

"Now, Ralof, what's going on? You two look pretty well done in." Hod said and Ralof started with a sigh.

"I can't remember when I last slept... Where to start? Well, the news you heard about Ulfric was true. The Imperials ambushed us outside Darkwater Crossing. Like they knew exactly where we'd be. That was... two days ago, now. We stopped in Helgen this morning, and I thought it was all over. Had us lined up to the headsman's block and ready to start chopping."

"The cowards!" Gerdur interrupted and clenched her fists.

"They wouldn't dare give Ulfric a fair trial. Treason, for fighting for your own people!" Ralof sounded aggravated. "All of Skyrim would've seen the truth then. But then... out of nowhere... a dragon attacked..."

He held a dramatic pause, and his sister asked with a shivering voice: "You don't mean, a real, live..."

"I can hardly believe it myself, and I was there." Ralof said and looked down for short.

"As strange as it sounds, we'd be dead if not for that dragon. In the confusion, we managed to slip away. Are we really the first to make it to Riverwood?" He looked at his sister and sounded surprised.

"Nobody else has come up the south road today, as far as I know." Gerdur said, and Ralof nodded.

"Good. Maybe we can lay up for a while. I hate to put your family in danger, Gerdur, but..." He stopped talking and didn't have to wait long for an answer.

"Nonsense. You and your friend are welcome to stay as long as you need to." She said without hesitation. "Let me worry about the Imperials."

She then looked at Cordelia and smiled. "Any friend of Ralof's is a friend of mine. Here's the key to the house. Stay as long as you like. I can see that you're hurt." Gerdur said and hinted at the red marks on Cordelia's sides that spread as the blood flowed out.

Cordelia hadn't even noticed herself.

"Unfortunately, there's no healer in town right now, so we'll just need to do our best." She handed her a key and helped her up on her feet again.

"Thank you, I appreciate the help." Cordelia said with a smile and nodded.

"Thanks, sister. I knew we could count on you." Ralof said as they walked by him.

"But... did anyone else escape? Did Ulfric..." Gerdur sounded quite worried but Ralof reassured her that he'd be fine.

"Don't worry. I'm sure he made it out. It'll take more than a dragon to stop Ulfric Stormcloak." He joked.


	8. Chapter 8 A stolen artefact

She spent weeks in the smaller town of Riverwood, narcotized on healing potions as no healer had come by. Most of her time was spent in the Sleeping Giant Inn, just sitting there and listen to Sven, the bard, play his music and flatter the woman Camilla Valerious.

One of the evenings she was sitting and drinking alone, as always, Ralof joined her.

"So Cordelia..." He said as an introduction to the first real conversation Cordelia have had the last couple of days. "What brings you to Skyrim?"

She froze with her gaze into the mug she held. "I'm... it's family business..."

They sat a bit in silence, as Sven sang Ragnar the Red in the background. Ralof then ordered some mead for the both of them.

"What family business then? If I might ask..." He was hesitant to ask and with good reason.

Not long after, Cordelia stood up rather quickly and threw a few coins on the table for her drink and left without a word. Ralof sat in silence as the two mugs with mead were placed before him and he thanked Delphine for them.

Next morning she was sitting on one of the bridges and looked at her bandages, when she heard Ralof talk to her as he walked by.

"Hey Cordelia, care to help me with some firewood?! He smiled and didn't wait for her to come along, before he began to chop wood.

"It's a good day today, huh?" Ralof said and tried to start some small talk.

"Huh? Oh... yeah..." Cordelia answered and began picking up the wood.

It was a pretty dead subject.

"How about all of your scars?" He asked as he swung the axe again.

Cordelia looked down herself and saw all of her many scars that graced her skin.

"Oh, they're... uh..." She was hesitant to answer, and luckily, something rode in to save her from making up an excuse.

A pair of horses rode over the stone bridge further down the stream, and Ralof smiled larger than what Cordelia had ever witnessed when his eyes caught the riders.

"Ysabel!" He shouted joyfully and walked towards them as they entered the town. "Ysabel, my love! Oh what a joy to see you!"

The blonde haired Nord jumped down from her horse and ran into his embrace.

"Beloved husband! I'm so glad to see you're alive! When Ulfric told me about what happened, I took of right away!"

She then looked at Cordelia and walked over to introduce herself.

"And this must be the Imperialist he mentioned." They shook hands with smiles. "I'm Ysabel of Winterhold, Ralof's wife."

"Cordelia of Cheydinhal."

The other rider, clearly a Wood Elf, approached her too for introductions.

"My name is Gwineth, I mostly just hunts and helps travellers, wherever I'm needed."

"That's an honorable path you're on, Gwineth." Cordelia said and gladly shook her hand.

Days passed by since Cordelia had met Ysabel and Gwineth, and one day Cordelia went into the Riverwood Trader to look for some breakfast, when she heard the Valerious siblings having an argument.

"Well one of us have to do something!" The woman, Camilla, spoke loudly to her brother, whom stood behind the desk.

"I said no! No adventures, no theatrics, no thief-chasing!" He yelled back at her, but she seemed to keep her wits about her.

"Well what are you going to do then, huh? Let's hear it!" She talked back and almost spat when she tried to control herself.

"We are done talking about this." He crossed his arms, and then noticed Cordelia.

"Oh, a customer. Sorry you had to hear that." He glared at his sister, and she walked away from him and whispered to Cordelia:

"See if you can talk some sense into my brother." And Cordelia nodded.

"I don't know what you overheard, but Riverwood Trader is still open. Feel free to shop." He said in a fake joy and tried to act like nothing.

"Did something happen, Lucan?" Cordelia asked and leaned in over the counter.

"Yes, we did have a bit of a... break-in. But we still have plenty to sell. Robbers were only after one thing." He spoke, and that's when Cordelia noticed what was missing.

"Oh..." Was all she could say.

"Yeah, the ornament, solid gold. In the shape of a dragons claw." He began describing the very thing Cordelia had admired for days.

"Yes, Lucan, I remember it, I was here last night. I could help you get the claw back."

"You could? You're sure? I mean in your condition..." He of course were referring to her not entirely healed wounds and her pains, but she nodded.

"I've got some coin coming in from my last shipment. It's yours if you bring the claw back from Bleak Falls Barrow." They shook hands on the deal.

"Consider it done!" She said with courage backing her word up.

"So now you don't have to go." He said and looked at Camilla.

"Oh really?" She said. "Well I think your new helper here needs a guide."

She was about to stand up from the chair, but Cordelia patted her on the shoulder.

"It's fine, Camilla, I'll find my way. And I wouldn't be able to fight with your safety on my mind." Cordelia shrugged and actually enjoyed watching Camilla's skin turn red in anger before she left.


End file.
